Dear Artemis
by NAVSO311
Summary: Dear Artemis, My Artemis, my baby girl. I am so, so proud of you for all that you have done. You have achieved all that I never had the ability to do. I am sorry I had to be such a horrible father./ In which Lawrence Crock, none other than Sportsmaster, writes to his daughter on he metaphorically lays on his death bed.


_**thank you mrs. caggiano for being the most amazing teacher ever. no other will have us write fanfiction as extra credit. except mr. meehan, but it wasn't extra credit. WAIT NO THAT WAS THE ENTIRE EXTENDED TASK WE HAD TO WRITE THREE DIFFERENT FANFICTIONS I HAD SO MANY OC'S.**_

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Santa Prisca, 9:39 P.M

January 18th, 2024

Lawrence's chest heaved as he coughed, his ribcage was shaking and his throat dry. He looked down at the spear in his abdomen. It was a gruesome fight against Black Manta and his followers. He sat in the sand, sitting up on a rock. Blood dribbled down his chin and fell to his lap where a folded piece of paper laid. He unfolded it, glancing at the picture. It was a poorly drawn one, but it was good to the standard of the three-year-old artist at the time. It was a picture of him, his wife and his two daughters. He was an orange color while the others were a light brown. His hair was a weird yellow, and so was his youngest daughter's. That's their Vietnamese heritage showing, Lawrence thought with a gentle smile. I still don't understand the gene pools, but I am not complaining. He flipped the paper over and took a splinter from the spear, dabbing the tip in his blood. He began to write the letter to the artist of the picture.

 _Dear Artemis,_

 _My Artemis, my baby girl. I am so, so proud of you for all that you have done. You have achieved all that I never had the ability to do. I am sorry I had to be such a horrible father. I just wanted to make sure that you would stay safe on the streets of Gotham. And maybe take care of the family business. I didn't mean to train you to the brink of exhaustion, but it happened anyway. I'm sorry that you hated me and I'm sorry that I never really made sure that your body was buried. If I had, then I would have known about you going undercover into the Light much earlier. Heh. You as Tigress is a vision I would like to get out of my head. I prefer you as Artemis, the hero, much better. Why did you make your name your actual name? I thought I taught you better. Heh._

 _Anyway, I'm sorry for disappearing on you when your mother got out of jail for the crime that I committed. It's just that I wanted to keep you two safe. I couldn't do that from our your house. If I wanted to ensure your safety, I would need to do it from somewhere far from you and your disabled mother (even though that woman is in a wheelchair, she can still beat anyone up, so if there were any intruders, then you guys would be safe). Regardless, when people would come after me, you could have been in danger. I simply couldn't have that. You and your mother are my family before my soldiers, even if you training contradicts that. And, Artemis, when you see Jade again, tell her that I love her, too. I never did and I should have told you guys that I love you. You three ladies are my world. I would die for you. I truly did. I'm sorry for the grief I have caused. You don't have to forgive me. Just acknowledge it._

 _I shouldn't have taught you at it's every person for their self. You need people and companionship to survive. It was almost unbearable to live without you, your sister, or you mother. I love you, Missy. Tell Paula and Jade I love them, too. This is the last goodbye._

 _Love, your father,_

 _Lawrence Crock_

 _P.S. Tell Wally and Roy to keep you girls safe. I know you can fight for yourselves, but if those two truly love you and Jade, they will._

 _Goodbye, Baby Gi_

Some time later, a red and yellow blur zoomed by, stopping by the cold corpse that was once was the feared Sportsmaster. He was the hero known as the Flash, but not Barry Allen. This man was the first Kid Flash; Wally West. He pressed his comm link disguised as a lighting bolt. "Artemis. He's here. I'm to your southeast, a bit away from the cliff."

A few minutes passed and a red, alien airship came into view. "Babe, I'm in the Bioship. Is he okay?" A feminine voice called from his comm link.

"You should see for yourself," Wally answered. He was sitting beside his father-in-law, holding onto Lawrence's hand. Tears fell onto his gloves and the redheaded man hiccuped. "Lawrence, oh Lawrence. You were a bad guy. But you had your moments. You couldn't have even stuck around to see your grandkids. We were going to announce it tomorrow. But you just had to die." Wally had a great relationship with the criminal, despite them being from opposing sides. Lawrence was the father Wally never had, for his biological one was an alcoholic and abusive man.

A blonde woman with olive skin jumped down from the Bioship. She wore a dark green suit with her midriff exposed and a light green arrow on her chest. A cowl framed her face and eyes, covering her eyes completely. She looked to Wally with worried eyes. The woman didn't need to ask.

"He's unresponsive, and he's cold. I already checked his eyes. I think he's been dead for a good few hours. We were late," Wally said, gripping Lawrence's hand tighter. Wally stood, holding Artemis's hand, pressing the picture and letter into it. "He wrote this for you. He died before he could finish it. I didn't read anything except the first and last lines." Wally walked to the Bioship, solemnly greeting his friends, Miss Martian and Superboy. M'gann gave him a warm hug, knowing how close he was to the older man. Conner simply just patted his back, unable to sympathize with him.

Artemis fell to the ground, her knees digging into the sand. She launched herself at Lawrence's dead body, crying into the once warm crook of his neck. "Dad… Why? Why did you have to go on this mission? You should have been over your beef with Manta. Why? Daddy, come back!" Artemis cried through her tear soaked cowl. "You won't even meet Jay or Irey," the blonde whispered, cradling her stomach gently. "You couldn't have waited until we found out the gender?"


End file.
